Signs
by millie-mione
Summary: What made Aunt Petunia decide to keep Harry? Surely, it wasn't love. Read and find out what. A little OT, but it's original.
1. Default Chapter

A sloo of ravens crossed Petunia's lawn and formed a crescent about her garden. She looked up at the sky to see it form a weird solar eclipse. Honeybees and and locusts fell dead all through her flower garden, whch was now littered with dying flowers.

She ran inside the house and called Vernon to see if he and baby Diddy were okay. Her heart released its pangs when she heard Vernon say that the ice cream parlor should be shut down for charging such outrageous prices for single scoops. She stood there and didn't answer him for a full forty-five seconds as he shouted her name through his receiver.

"I'm sorry, Vern. I just saw a bug fly about, and I finally crushed it," she lied. It was sheer rapture to hear her man's voice, and the sound of his aggravated complaining.

He told her to expect him in an hour's time. She begged him to get there all the sooner, claiming that she was lonely without him and Diddy. The truth of the matter was that they needed to get as far away from the area as was possible. She had enough money saved up that they could go to Wellington Caverns Park. There were loads of trees there.

Trees were always mankind's allies when Mother Nature got angry and decided to exact her retribution upon human beings. That was why she begged Vernon to get a house where trees ands plants were plentiful. Be good to the earth, her grandmother had always told her, and it would be good to you in return.

She thought back to Lily. She herself had been the better student of Grandmother Lavinia, when she taught them to practice the 'Old Ways,' but Lily turned out to be the actual witch. Grandma said that just because Lily had powers, didn't mean that other attributes couldn't be encouraged in Petunia, like psychic abilities.

She missed Granny Lavinia. Her home was the center of all warmth and love. Petunia always felt safe there. Granny's home in Bristol was the place she went after mum and dad died. She hid there for three days from Lily and her friends.

Gran was the only person to see just how special 'she' was. She always applauded Petunia on her accomplishments no matter how meager, plus Gran never tried to force her and Lily to bond the way that her mother did. To most people, being a consumate housewife these days didn't seem like that much of an accomplishment, but Gran always said that a woman was the high priestess of the home.

When she finished cleaning, she went to her closet, and lit her candle to Hestia to ask her to bring her family home safely to her. The candle flame shone bright blue. This was not a good sign. She chanted the traditional prayer to ask for help, and the candle fell down and broke releasing wax about the floor. Petunia thought that it would dry, creating an unsightly and gum-like mess, but instead, it flowed in a pattern that delineated the forms of two serpents.

What did this mean? She knew that whenever animals were entwined, it usually signified a terrible battle between equals. Usually, this battle ended in the death of one, but what did this have to do with her? She didn't have any battles to contend with. Most of her rivalries dealt in leagues that pertained to gardening or baking. Perhaps, something else was afoot.

She moved to go and get a washcloth and cleaning solution, but the door shut, and the remainder of the wax flowed to the door to seal the exit to the bedroom. She knelt and chanted again; this time she prayed for protection. The seal on the door formed a face like that of her statue of Hestia, and began to speak.

" The earth is now in a state of eminent turmoil. It will only spare those who are needed to restore the rightful balance."

" What do you mean?" she asked feeling very afraid for her husband and son.

" The earth will only spare that which is necessary to restore her to her rightful balance."

" Please, I don't understand what you mean."

The oozy substance lit aglow and released a green light that permeated the space between Petunia's eyes. She began to see the dining area where Vernon and Dudley ate rumble. She heard the laughter of voices. Her sight moved to see two caped figures whose faces were hidden behind white masks brandishing wands that ejected blasts of light. Buildings exploded, and people were running everywhere to seek shelter.

The light released her, and she fell unconsciously to her bedroom floor. When she woke, she saw the candle intact on the floor right next to her. Petunia laughed in relief. It was all a dream. She got up, approached the closet, and went to sit the candle back in its usual hiding place, except that when she looked down; she saw that the wick was burnt and black. Tears crept into her eyes. She prayed for the wonderful life that she had, and now it was all going to be taken away.

A sparrow landed on her windowsill and sang. Sparrows were the messengers of life. Was there some hope for her loved ones? She closed her eyes and listened to its song with her inner eye to find out. The sparrow's song told her to remember someone who was close to her that she forgot long ago. It said that salvation and redemption lay with a special gift that this person would give her.

During the day, visitors came by, but nobody left anything for her. She was starting to get worried. Vernon returned home safely with the baby, and she went about her usual routine trying ti think of a way to ask Vernon for a vacation. She gave the idea up and went to bed; if Vernon and Dudley were going to perish, then she'd go with them. Screw the earth. 'They' were her light and life.

The sparrow returned and sang a song to wake her. This time, he beckoned her to follow him. It led her to the doorstep to find a tiny foundling who held a note in his little hands. It opened its eyes and glimpsed her unfamiliar presence, which made it begin to fuss. Its green eyes looked into her pale blue ones, and she saw Lily. The sparrow flew away leaving a Rowan branch on her porch. Rowan was the symbol of protection and safety. She knew that as long as she looked after Harry, that her house would be safe.


	2. Revelations

Harry stepped into the backyard to do some thinking about his loss of Sirius. His mind discarded the belief that his onstinance with Professor Snape was the reason that Sirius got killed, but his heart kept rhythmically pounding it into his overburdened conscience.

" Those we love never truy leave us," Petunia said approaching him from behind.

" What did you say?"

" I said that those we love never truly leave us. I know how badly you miss him. I can feel it."

" What are you talking about," Harry asked backing away from her as if she planned to attack him at any given moment.

" I'm not going to do anything to you, you silly boy. I'm an empath. I feel traces of emotion and past events when I touch things. That's why I could never stand to hold you. Both you and Lily feel things too strongly. Everytime I held you, I recalled the incident of your mother's murder. Tonight, it's much worse. I've come here to try and help you resolve whatever it is that's eating at you. The summer solstice is a time of happiness, and if you continue like this, then Hestia will punish me for not taking proper care of you as a member of my house. So tell me everything that happened."

" I was supposed to be taking Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape, and I resisted; becaue, I hated being trapped here all summer, and nobody seemed to trust me. It's as if I were a pariah of some kind. Plus the worst thing about lessons was that I hated revisiting the pain of my memories when we had lessons. I couldn't take it."

" Oh, yes. You're just like Lily was. She too hated any discipline that required patience and concentration. Her life was 'sooo' intense. She could barely afford to breathe, since things were so powerfully 'bad' in her life."

" Don't mock me!" Harry roared.

" I'm not mocking you, boy. You think that you sit on some island specially reserved for the tragically misunderstood? Well, do you?"

" I'm leaving."

" Yes, my dear little puffin. You do that. Just run away, and tomorrow everything will be all right when you return to this very spot."

Before thinking, Harry brandished his wand and threw a stupefying jinx his aunt's way. To his surprise, she closed her eyes and stopped it in mid-air.

" Wearing our emotions on our pathetic little sleeves is useless. We have to fight using our heads, not our hearts. Lily never tried to understand this."

" You're a witch!"

" No, I am a druid; just as my parents and grandparents were. I was an exceptional student unitl Lily showed signs of magic. My parents forgot all about my development and attunement. Only gran seemed to care, I to felt cheated at the way that she could perform feats with great ease, but do you think I left the call to practice my faith to sit around blaming myself?"

" No," Harry said almost whispering.

" I knew that I had to get up and keep going. As long as you pine away for whomever it was you lost, this long lost loved one will continue to die. Going on and marching to continue what he or she felt was worth dying for will keep him or her alive."

" Jut shut the hell up! You don't know what I feel! You've never even given a damn about me! You sit here preaching to me about letting go and looking past the intensity of things, yet you just admitted that you couldn't bear the pressure that you felt whenever mom or I touched you!"

" Yes, but I let you stay with me nonetheless, don't I?"

" Oh, of course. Whatever would I do without your gracious charity?"

" You'd die, and so would the rest of us."

" So you admit it! The only reason you do this is for yourself."

" Its one of the reasons that I care for you, yes; but it isn't the only reason. I know that you have a destiny, and mine is a faith that believes in nobility. So, for me to refuse you would be for me to spit on the very foundation of my faith. Besides, you are all that I have left as I continue my journey alone through this life. Oh, right, I forgot to tell you; Vernon's divorcing me. It appears that he's fallen for Yvonne, and they plan to dissolve all ties with me come next month."

" So what? You're telling me this so that I can sit here, and think of you as a human being? How can I, when all the things that you've done to me over the years have been horrible."

" Oh, you still don't get it, do you? Well, let me spell it out for you. This was destined to happen, so I had to face it and move on. Vernon was only to love me for a time, and I knew that the day would come when we would face different paths through life. Whoever this was that died would have done so anyway. Your life was patterned after a set of fixed scenarios. Now the outcome will be determined by the choices that you make from here on out."

" What will you do to support yourself?"

" I will return to teaching school. I have a degree in Social Studies; plus, Vernon is taking Dudley off my hands; because, he thinks that life here with me is too dangerous for his son, seeing as how you're an inseperable part of me."

" So you blame me for your breakup?"

" No. Do you 'ever' listen? I said that he's going to skip out on me with my best friend. I also told you that it was bound to happen. Now, come next week, I want you to start moving your things into Dudley's old room, but don't think that I will lighten up on you. I plan to squeeze discipline and order into that bony little frame of yours."

" Yes, Aunt Petunia."

" For now, just concentrate on getting our mind together. I'll also teach you how to tame nightmares and mental attacks while you're at it. A wizard could never do it properly. Your whole lot relies too heavily on their wands and spell work and not enough on their minds and astral selves. It's just so irreverent the way that you all carry on. It's as though you've forgotten that you are apart of the same world as is everyone else."

" Okay, I've got it. I know why you hate wizards now."

" No, I don't. I just don't respect the flagrant disregard of time-honored beliefs and the value that these beliefs hold in the everyday life of the magician, be he or she Wiccan, druid, sorcerer, or magician. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like for you to get to bed. Tomorrow is a big day."

" Good night, Aunt Petunia."

" Good Night, Harry."


End file.
